Prison term for disguising infants of Vietnamese spouses staying illegally as Koreans

Who this helps

This may help people looking into how courts treated false birth registration and passport schemes involving infants and sham marriages. It covers only the facts of this one case.

Case overview

Court

Daejeon District Court

Posted on original board

Oct 1, 2015 (Thu)

Topic

Criminal Cases

Original title (Korean)

불법체류 베트남국인의 영유아를 대한민국 국민 것처럼 가장하여 베트남으로 출국시키는…

This case concerned a plan to file false birth registrations for the infants of Vietnamese spouses staying in Korea illegally, listing them as children of couples in sham marriages, obtain Korean passports, and send them to Vietnam. The sham marriage partners were men who had previously been married to Vietnamese women. The conduct included finding and gathering people to act as disguised parents, delivering documents needed for birth registration and passport applications to those involved, and handing the infants over from the Vietnamese spouses to the disguised parents.

What happens when infants of overstaying parents are disguised as Korean children to send them abroad?

The case involved infants of a Vietnamese couple staying in Korea illegally. The plan was to register them falsely as children of sham-married couples, get Korean passports, and send them to Vietnam. The men in the sham marriages had earlier been married to Vietnamese women. The acts at issue were finding people to act as fake parents, passing along documents for the birth registration and passport applications, and handing the infants over to the fake parents. The court imposed a prison term for these acts.

How the court ruled

The court imposed a prison sentence for this offense.

What to check in a similar situation

Information about birth registration, passport issuance and the status of foreign nationals can be checked with immigration and foreigner offices and with the courts. The ruling itself is available through the court's public judgment records.

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Terms explained

False birth registration

Reporting a child's birth with untrue details, such as naming people who are not the real parents. In this case, the infants were registered as children of fake parents.

Sham marriage

A marriage made on paper without a real marital relationship. Here it was used to set up fake parents for the infants.

Prison sentence

A sentence of actual imprisonment. The court imposed this kind of sentence in this case.

More rulings on this topic

• Ruling sentencing a defendant to 1 year in prison for illegal entry, illegal stay and aiding another person's illegal entry · Busan District Court
• Students' submission of bank balance certificate found to be an application by improper means · Seoul Eastern District Court
• Court upholds departure order for foreign national fined for drunk driving · Daegu District Court

See all 28 rulings on Criminal Cases →

Frequently asked questions

What was the case about?

It was about a plan to register the infants of a Vietnamese couple staying in Korea illegally as the children of sham-married couples. The plan also included getting Korean passports and sending the infants to Vietnam.

How did the court rule?

The court imposed a prison term for these acts.

Does this result apply to every similar case?

No. It is the court's decision in this one case and does not apply as is to other cases.